Keeping Up With Appearances
by Brutal Let Down
Summary: After a night of repeated failures, Ellis is hoping Nick will comfort him at the end of it all. But Nick's stubborn attitude is making it difficult. Nellis, One-shot.


It was late, and the survivors had just made it into their new safe house, this one being particularly more spacious, providing ample room to stretch their limbs without knocking into one another. There were still only two rooms, but there was a couch, meaning only two of them would have to share a bed.

But because Rochelle automatically got her own bed whenever it was available, and Coach was too big to share a bed with anyone, that almost always meant the two youngest men of the group would be sharing the bed that could barely fit one of them.

Tonight though, as the weary survivors came bustling in, the granted space didn't even register. They were too busy fighting amongst themselves.

"I told yo'asses, we ain't gettin far with all that racket!" Coach complained, tiredly, yet still somehow angrily dropping his shot gun to the small coffee table that greeted them in the immediate living room. The gun clattered in time to the stomps coming from worn work boots that came in next, the mechanic sighing heavily as he swept his wrist underneath his cap, the hat lifting slightly with the motion.

He tossed his bloodied baseball bat to the nearest corner, forgetting it there until the morning as he tried his best to ignore the harsh glare he got from Coach. It truly hadn't been his intention to be so loud back there, and he wished Coach wouldn't look at him like it was.

He went into the kitchen, the rasped breathing of the gambler making his ears perk at attention, but he kept on, flipping on the light and intending to find something to eat, something to do other than stand in the living room and get chewed out by the older survivor. He didn't have to take that.

Nick was worse than Coach, and he'd do more than give him dirty looks.

"God…Fucking…Damn it…" each pause in the gambler's speech was accented with the loud, clanky dismemberment of his AK-47, and then loud bangs and crashes as he began to throw the pieces, not aiming for anything in particular. It wouldn't matter if it got damaged, the Charger that rammed him into a tree took care of that.

It made Ellis squeeze his eyes shut for a moment, his brows furrowing desperately, waiting for the violent vibrations in the ground to subside before he went back to looking through a bottom cabinet while he crouched.

A piece of the AK had landed in the kitchen, making Ellis yelp, though quietly, as he swiftly turned back to see what it had been.

Rochelle's voice suddenly broke through the tirade, making Ellis breathe a sigh of relief, "Nick, if you don't stop throwing a temper tantrum right now, I'm throwing you outside for the night." She warned, using all seriousness. Her tone was stern, lacking any room for argument, possibly due to her tiredness and agitation level at the moment. By the lack of further comment, Rochelle and Nick had probably had a stare down for a moment, but Ellis wasn't trying to pay too much attention, he was pulling out various canned goods.

Coach then sighed, "Listen ya'll…_boy_, get in here." Coach had paused to call Ellis into the room, his voice rising to get his attention, though Ellis very sorely wanted to stay in the kitchen. He reluctantly shuffled back into the room, and instantly turned a shade of embarrassed as all eyes were on him.

"I'm only gonna say this one God damn time…" Coach gave a tired sigh, letting one large hand run down his soaked face as he worked out his next sentence.

"If we cain't learn to _stick togetha_…" he gave a stern look in Nick's direction, though the gambler was too busy glaring sideways at Rochelle, his eyes shifting over to Ellis a moment later, eyes just as glaring as before. "And learn how to be _quiet_…" He then looked to Ellis sternly, and the mechanic gave him a very apologetic pout that didn't do anything to dampen the old coach's anger.

"Then we ain't gonna survive another damn day out here…" he concluded with a deep tone, a finality that seemed to break through the others and their turmoil.

Rochelle sighed, "Coach is right. I don't know what in the _world_ got into Nick, and I _damn_ sure don't know what got into you, Ellis, but we've got to get better." She looked at the two youngest men with her hip cocked to the side and her arms folded over her chest.

Somewhere during their fight with the infected, Nick had wandered off, to do who knew what, and Ellis had worried, and like an idiot, started calling out for him. It inevitably triggered a horde, and made them pass up on checking out abandoned houses of precious supplies, running from the massive group of infected. It turned out Nick had been looking ahead, stepping into buildings and houses, doing just that, needing to fill his AK with bullets he was running low on. But the Charger lurking in one of the sheds he poked his head into stopped his little search short, sending him into a large tree. The impact of the tree and the gun that had been hanging by the strap on his shoulder, swinging around loosely to smack into the tree caused the gun to break.

How? Nick didn't even fucking know, but the damn thing won't shoot anymore and that pissed him off more than the fact that the Charger ruined his suit.

And he blamed it all on Ellis. No matter how much it was his own fault he'd been going ahead. The others would've gotten to him faster if he hadn't alerted that damn horde.

Nick inhaled deeply, exhaling through his nose like an angered bull, turning swiftly from the bunch and heading off to find a room. He was going to take these damn wet clothes off and eat something. He was tired and didn't want to hear another word about 'wandering off'. It was for the greater good of the team, and he'd even found some medical supplies, so they needed to get the fuck off his back.

Once Nick had taken his leave, Ellis felt it was Ok for he himself to be dismissed, and hesitantly began to back up, then fully turned around a moment later, heading back into the kitchen. He didn't know how much longer he could stand being in a room with Coach.

Rochelle took a seat on the couch, throwing up her feet on the small table, a gesture that was very unladylike, but Rochelle couldn't give two shits at the moment. She was tired, aching, and hungry. The whole I'm-the-girl-of-the-group thing was getting old.

It didn't take long for Coach to settle into the chair across from her, sighing deeply as he did so. Coach could've sworn that after the first few times in the Vannah, he wouldn't have to get onto Ellis about being loud again. He also thought Nick had gotten over the Lone Wolf act a long time ago. Apparently not.

It all just aggravated him to the point that if he didn't get his mind off it, he'd probably start having a fit.

In the kitchen, Ellis had started to make dinner for them all, opening cans with the hand opener and just generally trying to stay as quiet as possible about it. Not like being quiet in the safe house would help, but he did it subconsciously, too afraid to make Coach get up and yell at him again. He'd tossed the cans into pots and set them on the stove, cooking up beef stew.

He leaned against the counter, staring at the tiled floor. Now that Ellis had a chance to really think about it, he realized there was something very odd about the situation. He fully expected to get yelled at by Coach, that was a given.

But he hadn't been expecting it from Nick. Yea, he'd been gotten by a Charger, but Nick had dealt with those time and time again. He shouldn't be _that_ upset. Was it because his AK had broke? It couldn't, he's had more broke guns than all of them combined. Ellis knows for sure he's gone through five machine guns and three shot guns, and this is actually his second Ak-47. Nick is clumsy when it comes to his two-handed guns, that's why he sticks to his Magnum most the time.

But what really made Ellis confused was the fact that Nick didn't even seem fazed when Ellis had come rushing up to him, telling him how worried he'd been, and asked him, pleaded with him not to split up from them again. If anything, it just made Nick angrier. He'd called him Overalls again, a name he hadn't used in almost a month, and practically shoved Ellis off of him. It was all so… Out of character for Nick… Especially seeing as how they'd been sleeping with each other for the past three weeks.

Ellis slowly shook his head, not understanding it at all.

Soon, once the group had cooled down, they gathered in the kitchen, sitting down with a bowl of stew in front of them. But it became very uncomfortable for Ellis only after a few minutes of their quiet staring, and Ellis couldn't remain seated around them, so he politely excused himself and found the room he'd be sleeping in tonight. He hoped when Nick came to bed, he'd at least explain his attitude… though somehow, he highly doubted it.

An hour had passed, and now that Ellis had finished his meal, the empty bowl sitting beside the TV, he was getting ready to hit the sack, done with the stress of the day. It was when he was pulling his pants down his legs that the door opened, and he half expected to see Coach, wanting to warn him one last time before bed…

Thankfully though, it was Nick, and Ellis let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding, "Hey." He greeted the gambler with a small smile. Now that they had some privacy he hoped to get Nick to talk to him about what had happened today.

But instead he got a still very heated look from the man, and silence. Nick began to jerk his clothes off, agitatedly, slinging his coat over into a chair in the corner, not caring enough to at least fold it. Which was highly unusual for the orderly gambler. Ellis released a tense breath, worried.

He followed Nick's lead, though, and continued to undress, grabbing his shirt in fist-fulls and yanked it up and over his head, throwing the article away as he eyed the older man. He was expecting him to turn around and tell him to sleep somewhere else tonight… But no such thing happened, and instead, Nick rigidly climbed into bed with a huff. Ellis was slightly hesitant to do so, but after watching Nick roll onto his side, away from Ellis, he figured it would be alright. He quickly turned to flip the light off and went to the bed.

As Ellis scooted along the mattress, getting comfortable, he heard Nick groan a few times, annoyed with the movement the mechanic caused and tugged the blanket up some, as if to hide his face away from Ellis. He sighed silently to himself, but kept quiet otherwise.

Despite Nick's behavior, his silent aggression, Ellis was pretty sure Nick wasn't actually all that mad. If he had truly been mad, Ellis would've known. Quickly.

He smiled to himself, facing the opposite wall, feeling the slight heat that radiated off of Nick against his back. It would've been so easy to just turn around in the bed and wrap his muscled arms around him. He was sure Nick would give little to no argument. Maybe a credulous look and a light shove with his shoulder, but that would be the extent of Nick's fighting back.

As Ellis stifled a slight chuckle with the thought, he nuzzled his face against the pillow his head lay upon and tried to get some sleep.

It wasn't but two minutes later that Ellis felt Nick moving. At first it was a slight shifting in the bed. But then Nick started moving and soon Ellis felt Nick's warm bare back nudge his own. So he turned his head over slightly, to see if Nick was doing this intentionally.

"What?" he heard Nick ask, sounding highly annoyed, but wasn't making any attempt to turn his head to return the look Ellis was giving him.

"Uh…Nuth-" "Do you want me to hold you, or some shit?" Nick had asked it abruptly, and it sort of confused Ellis, because he was in no way insinuating to Nick that he wanted to be held. Nick had been the one to nudge Ellis.

"I didn't… what are you-" Ellis was turning over in bed, wanting to face Nick, and surprisingly, Nick was turning over as well, his face drawn deeply in agitation, "Ellis, you are such a sissy…" he mumbled, "Im gonna hold you, Overalls, but don't go crying on my shoulder because you can't take a stern talking to." He spat the words with such venom it almost made Ellis flinch, but a moment later, Nick's ringed fingers were gripping at his body, pulling him intimately close.

He swallowed the dryness suddenly in his throat and allowed Nick to wrap his arms around his torso, his hands going to his back where he gently rolled him till he laid half on Nick's body while Nick laid flat on the bed. Ellis' head was tucked under Nick's chin, the gambler's scruff tickling his forehead as he shifted.

Ellis was still confused as he slowly settled his hands on Nick, one on his firm chest, the other going underneath Nick's shoulder. It was a common sleeping position for them, but what struck Ellis as odd was how Nick had brought it about… not the mechanic, like Nick was suggesting.

Eventually though, he became comfortable as he felt Nick's arms relax around his body, Nick's chest rising and falling with what seemed to be a contended sigh. He smiled as he looked up to the gambler and quickly set a kiss to his stubbled jaw. It was quick enough that Nick couldn't do much in reaction except blink once or twice down at him before it was over, Ellis' curled mop tucking back underneath Nick's chin.

As Ellis began to lightly tangle himself with Nick, softly breathing against him, Nick let himself finally fall from character, his features softening into something warmer as he leant down and buried his nose in Ellis' hair. He really didn't have it in him to be so cruel to Ellis all night long.

But Rochelle had been getting nosy the past few days. He didn't want her snooping in business that wasn't hers. Even if Ellis' worried cries melted his heart.

So, he had to play the bad guy, at least until Rochelle stopped getting wise of he and Ellis' thing they had going. Nick smiled into the brunette curls, lightly kissing his head as he too soon drifted.

Before Nick slipped into complete sleep, he had one last thought.

But if making Ellis feel like shit was what he had to do to keep Rochelle from asking questions… it wasn't worth keeping up with appearances.


End file.
